Varsha Senthil: Kitchen

Kitchen

Suburban drudgery to the head I come untethered
from the birthing plane hover uncertain sautéing
plantains that don’t come unstuck cooking burnt on
both outsides whiteness intact where they stick
together the harrowing violence of the pressure cooker clapping
both hands over my ears with every rattling whistle this too
emits whiteness, a gush of steam slicing through my field
of muted vision a double vision—domesticated
land for miles, ill-fated instance of rain without end and then
I know the air is not made of nothing.

Varsha Senthil (she/they) is a writer living in Philadelphia, PA. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in The Oakland Arts Review, The Foundationalist, and Equinox literary magazines. She enjoys musing about place and language.